CENTER FOR COMPETENCY-BASED LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT PTE. LTD. v SKILLSFUTURE SINGAPORE AGENCY

[2024] SGHC 121 High Court (General Division) 8 May 2024 • HC/S 718/2021 • 166 min read

40 cases cited (27 SG, 13 foreign)

Key facts

Court	High Court (General Division)
Decided	8 May 2024
Judge	Lee Seiu Kin
Charges / claim	Equity, Contract, Restitution, Evidence
Counsel	Emerald Law LLC, Lee & Lee, Chee Kai Hao, Cheong Chee Min, Hsu Sheng Wei Keith, Nico Lee Yin Hao, Yan Chongshuo

Source: [2024] SGHC 121, High Court (General Division), decided 8 May 2024 — eLitigation. Updated 25 June 2026.

Catchwords

Equity — Estoppel — Promissory estoppel Contract — Contractual terms — Exemption clause Restitution — Unjust enrichment — At the expense of Evidence — Proof of evidence — Onus and standard of proof Contract — Discharge — Stipulated event — Innocent party entitled to terminate in event of breach of warranty or term of contract Contract — Discharge — Stipulated event — Innocent party entitled to terminate if in its opinion the other party is guilty of gross moral turpitude Contract — Contractual terms — Implied term not to exercise contractual discretion dishonestly, for an improper purpose, irrationally, capriciously or arbitrarily Contract — Contractual terms — Contractual term entitling innocent party to clawback full amount of funding or subsidy received under the contract upon termination of contract on fault-based grounds

Practice Areas

Equity Contract Restitution Evidence

Judges (1)

Lee Seiu Kin Delivered

Counsel (7)

Emerald Law LLC Firm Lee & Lee Firm Chee Kai Hao Counsel Defendant Cheong Chee Min Counsel Defendant Hsu Sheng Wei Keith Counsel Plaintiff Nico Lee Yin Hao Counsel Plaintiff Yan Chongshuo Counsel Defendant

Parties (2)

Center for Competency-Based Learning and Development Pte Ltd Plaintiff SkillsFuture Singapore Agency Defendant

Case Significance

Center for Competency-Based Learning and Development Pte Ltd v SkillsFuture Singapore Agency [2024] SGHC 121 was decided by Lee Seiu Kin SJ in the General Division of the High Court on 8 May 2024, in Suit No 718 of 2021, following a trial spanning 27 and 28 July, 1, 2, 4, 8, 10, 11, 15 and 17 August 2023 and 22 April 2024. The action arose out of a contract that the plaintiff, Center for Competency-Based Learning and Development Pte Ltd, entered into in or around May 2007 with the defendant, SkillsFuture Singapore Agency, a statutory body tasked to implement the SkillsFuture initiative in Singapore, on what appeared to be the defendant's standard-form terms. SkillsFuture Singapore Agency brought a counterclaim against the plaintiff. The catchwords span contractual discharge for stipulated events including gross moral turpitude, an implied term not to exercise contractual discretion dishonestly or arbitrarily, a clawback term for funding or subsidy on fault-based termination, exemption clauses, promissory estoppel, and unjust enrichment.

Summary

The plaintiff, a training organisation that provided cleaning-related training courses, sued the defendant, the statutory body implementing the SkillsFuture initiative, after the defendant terminated their funding contract on the ground that the plaintiff had been guilty of gross moral turpitude following an audit involving 14 trainees; the defendant counterclaimed to claw back funding disbursed. The issues included whether the contract was lawfully terminated, the proper exercise of contractual discretion, and claims for damages, unjust enrichment and the funding amount. The General Division of the High Court found that the contract was lawfully terminated, dismissed the plaintiff's claim for wrongful termination, and held that the plaintiff was entitled to $14,244.30 under the contract while the defendant was entitled to a counterclaim sum of $793,083.79, ordering the plaintiff to pay the net difference of $778,839.49 plus interest.

What was Center for Competency-Based Learning and Development v SkillsFuture Singapore Agency [2024] SGHC 121 about?

It arose from a contract entered around May 2007 between Center for Competency-Based Learning and Development Pte Ltd and SkillsFuture Singapore Agency, a statutory body implementing SkillsFuture. The suit and counterclaim raised issues of contractual discharge, contractual discretion, clawback of funding, estoppel and unjust enrichment.

Who were the parties in [2024] SGHC 121?

The plaintiff was Center for Competency-Based Learning and Development Pte Ltd and the defendant was SkillsFuture Singapore Agency, a statutory body tasked to implement the SkillsFuture initiative. SkillsFuture Singapore Agency also brought a counterclaim. Lee Seiu Kin SJ heard the matter in the General Division of the High Court.

Statutes Cited

Evidence Act (Cap 97) Cases on this Act →

s 3

Oaths and Declarations Act (Cap 211)

SkillsFuture Singapore Agency Act

s 3

SSG Act

s 57(2)(c)

Cases Cited (40)

SG (5)

[2010] SGHC 319 [2011] SGCA 45 [2013] SGHC 148 [2016] SGHC 147 [2018] SGHC 166

SLR (22)

[1992] 2 SLR(R) 710 [1998] 1 SLR(R) 385 [1998] 3 SLR(R) 1028 [2005] 3 SLR(R) 263 [2006] 3 SLR(R) 469 [2008] 3 SLR(R) 1029 [2009] 4 SLR(R) 602 [2010] 1 SLR 286 [2011] 3 SLR 540 [2011] 3 SLR 903 [2013] 3 SLR 801 [2013] 4 SLR 193 [2013] 4 SLR 308 [2015] 2 SLR 1020 [2015] 5 SLR 1322 [2016] 2 SLR 50 [2016] 4 SLR 728 [2018] 5 SLR 1208 [2019] 1 SLR 349 [2019] 3 SLR 1189 [2021] 4 SLR 44 [2022] 1 SLR 1318

UK (11)

[1980] AC 827 [1996] AC 563 [2003] 1 AC 153 [2008] EWCA Civ 116 [2011] 3 WLR 1341 [2012] EWHC 458 [2014] EWHC 2785 [2014] EWHC 980 [2015] 1 WLR 1661 [2016] AC 176 [2017] EWCA Civ 1212

MY (2)

[1981] 2 MLJ 162 [1982] 2 MLJ 83